Tucker's Gaby Basora on Why Conceptualizing Prints is "Like Baking"

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Gaby Basora of Tucker has come to be known as a print master. Founded in 2005, Basora started off by making blouses that quickly got scooped up by Barneys. In 2010 Target came calling and Basora collaborated with the mass retailer for the Target GO International Collection. Now the designer sells her line in over 300 stores.

Tucker's Fall 2011 collection, which Basora showed in the penthouse of the Cooper Square Hotel, is comprised of beautiful prints—“Montmarte Flower Garden”, a print of baby blue, orange and pink flowers, the “Moon Fan Print” with a distinct 1920s antique feel and the abstract “Watercolor Glass Fragments” print.

Basora says that conceptualizing prints is “kind of like baking. Sometimes you start out with an idea in mind but if you don’t follow a recipe and just do it by taste and feel and by the way things look sometimes the print that you made for last season that never felt quite right might just be the print that comes in and ties the new collection together.”

For Fall 2011, there are beautiful silk pleated pants, a culottes jumpsuit, lace blouses and V-neck tunics--and the vivid prints weave in and out of the collection stringing it all together. Basora says, "The collection is just about what is on my mind, inspiring me specifically at the time. A lot of it comes from the mood of the prints.”

As for how Basora’s Target capsule collection transformed Tucker? “I think there is absolutely no denying that it was an incredible opportunity,” says Basora. “Just to be chosen was great because they are very innovative in their choices and it's an incredible roster to sit amongst which in itself is elevating. I’ve been discovered by people that have a more sophisticated following of those types of collections and have gotten great exposure just from working with a mass retailer. The distribution was incredible, it was a great experience.”

Basora, besides her dedication to growing her namesake line, has a passion for saving the Garment District in New York City. “Tucker is made at the same factory that produced my first pieces," she says. "My grandfather came from Russia as a tailor and he worked in a factory sewing suits. He later sewed clothes for my mom for a collection she sold to upscale boutiques in Chicago. I have a personal attachment to this village-like mode of production. I am also indebted to the Garment Center for its significant role in Tucker.”